A response to comments made last week by School Board member Kathy Paspalis in another newspaper and reprinted below:
I am one of Sheila Silver’s fans and I know a thing or two.
Let’s compare the facts –
Fact: In November 2009, Patricia Siever had two grandchildren enrolled at Culver City High School, both of whom were in Ms. Silver’s classes. Mr. Zeidman continues to have children enrolled in the District. These two Board members voted twice not to rehire Ms. Silver.
Fact: In June 2011, in his graduation address to CCHS seniors, President Zeidman lauded The Laramie Project and Urinetown for their excellence. Both of these productions were produced and directed by Ms. Silver. Neither Mr. Zeidman nor Ms. Siever attended these productions.
Fact: In August 2011, CCUSD informed Ms. Silver that she would be coming back to the District as a third-year probationary teacher. It was documented that due to her medical leave, she had not accrued the necessary amount of days to be granted tenure (the two days she took for the Jewish holidays apparently did not count).
Fact: Without the protections of tenure, Ms. Silver would remain an open target to the teachers, administration and Board members who went gunning for her. Her medical team advised her not to return to CCUSD, for it was the conditions in the workplace that necessitated her medical leave.
Fact: In early August 2011, Ms. Silver was informed by her replacement, Justin Lujan, that Tony Spano and Kristine Hatanaka had offered him the position as AVPA Creative Director of Theatre; in fact, these discussions had begun as far back as last June.
Fact: Since reinstated by the Board in February 2011, Ms. Silver was under contract with CCUSD.
Fact: (From Ms. Paspalis’s letter:) “….under the Teachers Union contract (available for review on the District website), the Board cannot hire someone to replace another teacher while they were still employed with the District.”
Fact: In June 2011, Mr. Zeidman told Ari Noonan of thefrontpageonline.com, “I see no reason why Ms. Silver will not be returning.” Who in their right mind would return to such a district? Did she bail? Damn right she did! And the students, parents, community arts partners and District colleagues who protested her dismissal the loudest, were the ones to help her pack up and leave.
Questions:
— If the School Board did not meet in August or have Ms. Silver on the personnel agendas in July, to what degree has the CCUSD School Board and CCUSD leadership lost control of the teachers who conspired to get her fired?
— Did Spano/Hatanaka act in deliberate defiance of the District contract when offering the job to Lujan?
— With such a flagrant abuse of the above-cited contractual clause, why did the Board fail to take action when they learned of the violation? And how could they not have known? Who sanctioned that action if not the board?
Ms. Silver reiterates the importance of voting for Nancy Goldberg for CCUSD School Board.
Nancy will ensure that no student, parent, community member, or CCUSD employee will ever be treated like this again.
Lois Ellenstein is a lon-time resident of Culver City who was a teacher, caterer and bookstore owner. Her late husband, Robert Ellenstein, acted in and directed many L.A. theater productions over several decades; appeared in more than 20 films, including “North by Northwest” and “Star Trek IV”; and he had a long television resume that began in the mid-1950s. He was the first artistic director of the Company of Angels, co-founder and artistic director of the Los Angeles Repertory Company, and a founding member of Theatre West in Hollywood. Ms. Ellenstein may be contacted at lellenstein@yahoo.com.
Board Member Reviews the Last Months of Sheila Silver
From Kathy Paspalis
Actually, not to put too fine a point on it, I see Board members “with children in the district” in Ms. Silver's letter twice.
I personally enjoyed [her students’ productions of] Nicholas Nickleby & Laramie Project very much, and wish godspeed to Ms. Silver in her new position. However it’s important to clarify a few things. There’s potential litigation here, so I can’t say much, other than publicly-known facts:
Fact: There are only 2 Board members who have kids in the District now: me & Scott Zeidman.
Fact: Even if both of us voted against retaining Ms. Silver, you can’t have a majority with only 2 of 5 members.
Fact: I voted to retain Ms. Silver, twice.
Fact: The Board ultimately voted to retain Ms. Silver.
Fact: The Board doesn’t meet in August.
Fact: The Board didn’t hold a special meeting in August, 2011.
Fact: The Board didn’t & couldn’t have even discussed Ms. Silver at its July meeting, as the 1 item on the Closed Session Agenda was 2 Personnel Reports, neither of which had Silver’s name on it.
Fact: Under the Teachers Union contract (available for review on the District website), the Board cannot hire someone to replace another teacher while they were still employed with the District.
Fact: The Board unequivocally did not take the August vote that Ms. Silver alleges.
Fact: Ms. Silver, while still under contract with CCUSD (see above), found a new job in O.C. in August & chose to go back there, where she'd previously resided for many years, rather than return to CCUSD.
Ms. Paspalis may be contacted at paspalis@earthlink.net
